Railroad journal lubricating pad



May 8, 1962 J. A. SCHROEDER 3,033,625

RAILROAD JOURNAL LUBRICATING PAD Filed April 25. 1960 United States Patent G Filed Apr. 25, 1960, Ser. No. 24,286 1 Claim. (Cl. S68-443) This invention relates to a pad for use in a railway journal box for supplying lubricating oil from the box to the journal.

The invention is designed to alleviate many diiculties encountered with the use of waste packing, such as waste grabs, waste burns, settling (out of contact with journal), and other failings of the conventional waste journal box packing.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a lubricating pad which will have: an exceedingly high wicking rate to carry a maximum volume of oil to the journal; a relatively light yet uniform and constant coutact with the journal with a minimum wiping action so as to provide a complete uniform oil iilm throughout the entire journal bearing area; and to so construct the pad that it will act to assist in the prevention of loss of oil and the entrance of foreign matter around the fillet extremity of the journal.

Other objects and advantages reside in the detail construction of the invention, which is designed for simplicity, economy, and eiciency. These will become more apparent from the following description.

In the following detailed description of the invention, reference is had to the accompanying drawing which forms a part hereof. Like numerals refer to like parts in all views of the drawing and throughout the description.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a top view of the improved lubricating pad as it would appear before being` insertedrin a railway journal box;

IFIG. 2 is a side view of the pad of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an end view thereof;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross section taken on the line 4 4, FIG.1;

FIG. 5 is an axial section through a conventional plain railway car journal box with the invention in place therein; and f FIG. 6 is a cross section of the journal box taken on the line 6 6, FIG. 5.

Conventional elements of a typical plain journal railway structure have been illustrated and designated by numeral as follows: journal 10, journal collar 11, journal lillet 12, axle 13, journal box 14, box lid 15, bearing brass 16, bearing wedge 17, box shoulders 18, dust guard f19 and lubricating oil 20.

Briefly, the improved lubricating pad comprises a ilexible, rectangular, absorbent pad base 211 of greater length than width, upon which a plurality of absorbent sponge blocks 22, 23, 24 and 25 are retained by means of absorbent porous pockets or caps formed from a looped nap fabric having high wicking qualities.

The pad base 21 is formed from relatively thick, preferably jig inch, flexible absorbent felt of suflicient width to extend the full overall length of the journal and of sutlicient length to extend semi-cyclindrically above the bottom of the journal box 14 between the shoulders 18. Pad bases in actual use have a width of 9" and a length of 13". The extremities of the pad base are bound to prevent fraying by means of binding tapes 27 stitched thereon, as indicated by the lines of stitching 28. The pad base is provided with a pull tab 29 stitched medially of the base and projecting forwardly from the near side of the base. The pull tab 29 is provided with an open annular grommet 30 and similar open annular grommets Patented May 8, 1962 iCC 31 are riveted through the base adjacent the front edge and at each extremity thereof.

The sponge blocks 2v2-25 are cut or formed from porous resilient material such as sponge neoprene, plastic foam, coarse grained felt or other spongy, absorbent, resilient material. As illustrated, the outer sponge block 22 is positioned adjacent and parallel to the front edge of the pad base and the inner sponge block 25 is positioned adjacent and parallel to the rear edge of the pad base. The intermediate sponge blocks 23 and 24 are positioned between and spaced from the front andrear blocks 22 and 25, all in relatively uniform, parallel, spaced-apart relation.

The sponge blocks 22, 23 and 24 have a normal uncompressed height above the bottom surface of the pad base 21 approximately equal to the difference between the outer radius of the journal \10 and the inner radius of the box 14. The latter sponge blocks have a length sufcient to extend substantially circumferentially about the journal 10. The inner sponge block 25 is approximately 1/2 higher than the blocks 22, 23 and 24 and has a length sufficient to extend substantially circumferentially about the journal 1t). As an example, the sponge blocks 22, 23 and 24 of actual pads in use have a height of 2%, a width of 11/2", and a length of Sl/z and the inner sponge block 25 has a height of 2% a width of 2", and a length of 8".

The sponge blocks are positioned within rectangular, fabric pockets or hoods 32 formed from an absorbent porous chenille-like fabric material consisting of a relatively heavy fabric sheet, such as canvas or cotton duck, through which heavy worsted, wick-like yarns or cords are stitched to form a compact pile of close, relativelylong, looped wicks 33. Such a material could be re erred to as coarse, deep pile chenille.

The fabric is cut and stitched to form rectangular, open-bottomed hoods to snugly receive the sponge blocks. 'Ihe lower peripheral edges of each hood are hemmed and turned outwardly, as shown at 34. The hems of adjacent hoods are overlapped and all hems are secured to the pad base 21 by means of suitable split rivets 35. .It will be noted that the looped wicks 3'3 of the pile of adjacent pockets will intermingle in close contact, as shown in FIG. 4, to form absorbent wicking passages 26between the adjacent sponge blocks.

The improved lubrication pad is installed by forcing it beneath the journal |10 in the bottom of the box 14, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, in the manner similar to the waste packing formerly used. The grommets 31 provide means to be engaged by the conventional railway waste hooks for properly positioning the pad base 21. The grommet 30 in the pull tab 29 lies against the end of the box in an easily accessible position where it may be engaged by the waste hook for withdrawing the pad from the box when desired.

It will be noted that the looped wicks 33 on the tops of the sponge blocks will be continuously forced into contact with a substantially 90 arc of the bottom of the journal by the resiliency of the sponge blocks and that the looped wicks immediately below the journal will be normally immersed in the oil 20 to provide a direct wicking action.

Should the oil level descend, oil will be carried upwardly from the body of oil by capillary attraction of the looped wicks at the sides of the sponge blocks and the entwined and intermingled looped wicks in the transversally-extending wicking passages 26. The upward travel of the oil is also assisted by the porous sponge blocks themselves which, due to their internal capillary action, and to the sponging effect caused by lateral movements of the journal constantly raise oil to replace oil removed by rotation of the journal.

Attention is called to the fact that the side wick areas of all of the sponge blocks lie in planes transverse to the journal axis. This is also true of the wicking passages 26 with their entwined looped wicks. The result is that since all wicking planes are in planes of rotation of the journal the latter rotation will exert a pumping action to assist in drawing oil to the journal. If the sponge blocks were placed parallel to the axis, they would exert an undesirable wiping action on the journal which would tend to destroy the uniformity of the oil iilm supporting the bearing brass 16.

It will be noted that the top looped wicks of the inner sponge block extend almost 180 about the lower half of the journal, due to the greater length of inner sponge block 22, and that they contact and ride against the journal fillet 12 to prevent leakage of oil through the dust guard 19. It will also be noted that the top looped wicks of the inner sponge block 25 are forced more tightly against the journal than the top wicks of the remaining sponge blocks, due to the relatively greater normal height of the inner sponge block 25. This enhances the sealing effect about the llet extremity of the journal to prevent leakage and loss of oil about the axle 13.

lt is preferred to perforate the pad base 27 with a plurality of perforations 36 extending completely through the pad. These perforations have many important advantages, such as: expediting the initial saturation of the pad with oil; insuring complete and uniform saturation of the base; increasing the free oil capacity of the box; and increasing the tlow of oil to the pads. The perforations also serve to engage and receive protuberances and other roughness in the interior wall of the journal box to assist in holding the pad base in place in the box.

While a specific form of the improvement has been described and illustrated herein, it is to be understoodthat the same may be varied within the scope of the appended claim, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described the invention What is claimed and desired secured by Letters Patent is:

lMeans for lubricating a railway journal ofthe type having a journal collar at its outer extremity and an axle fillet at its other extremity and being positioned in a conventional railway journal box comprising: a flexible pad base positioned in the bottom of said journal box and having a semi-cylindrical contour, the axis of which is parallel to the axis of said journal; a plurality of elongated spaced-apart, compressible sponge blocks mounted on said pad base transversally of the axis of said pad base, said blocks being arcuately curved longitudinally to conform to the circumference of said journal; an absorbent hood covering each of said blocks; and Wicks extending outwardly from said hoods into contact with said journal, the wicks of adjacent blocks intermingling to form open wick channels extending transversally of the axis of said pad base and said journal; the hood and wicks of the outermost pad contacting said journal collar, and the hood and wicks of the innermost pad being parallel to the plane of and in contact with said fillet so as to seal against the latter; said innermost pad having a normal uncompressed height greater than that of the other pads so that the wicks of the innermost pad will contact said journal with greater pressure than the wicks of the remaining pads; and said innermost pad having a greater arcuate length than the remaining pads to create a sealing effect against said lillet to prevent the escape of lubricant from said box at the llet extremity of said journal.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,044,248 yKeys June 16, 1936 2,089,664 Ripley Apr. 10, y1937 2,150,935 Miller Mar. 21, 1939 2,758,893 McLeod Aug. 14, I1956 2,781,239 Potter v Feb. 12, 1957 2,975,009 Bair Mar. 14, 1961 OTHER REFERENCES lPremier Journal Lubricator by Premier Manufacturing Co. Stamped in Patent Ofce Nov. 24, 1958. 

